Friday, October 27, 2006

Da Count

This will be a quickie and I'll let you all know my posting here and visits to your places may be spotty the next week and a half (or I may just meme and quiz you to death here). I have a dear friend visiting from Bolivia for a while. So I'll count that.

I've only been to Canada, Trinidad & Tobago, and Bolivia outside the USA. And I've been to about 35 US states. I'm so grateful to have had those opportunities. No direspect intended but my entire family lives within 10 miles of each other and i am considered quite the rebel for living a whole 90 miles away. That I'd voluntarily move overseas back when I did is completely beyond the scope of comprehension.

I can't tell how how seeing and experiencing different places has enriched me and expanded my perspective. When I have been fortunate enough to travel I try to really get the local feel. I might not miss the big attractions but I want to see the back alleys and the places only the locals know, the places that give a place its real flavor. I want the sights, sounds, tastes, noises that are distinctive and I want to see why a place is 'home' to the people who live there.

I've learned new ways to look at things and seen different ways of doing things. Different languages, different values, different priorities and perspectives all open your eyes if you allow them too. I can recall taking my Dad to the Hilton in Trinidad because friends had recommended the huge local buffet as a way to give him LOTS of different foods to try all at once and see a nice show. There was a lady there sniffing in disgust over the curries, beans, flat breads, fish broths, stewed chickens, stewed pumpkins and various unfamiliar treats. Honestly, there wasn't anything outrageous like fresh monkey brains. It was all quite standard fare, simply arranged or seasoned differently. All she wondered was where the American food was. I explained what things were and still she went away in disgust. She missed a GREAT meal.

So I am counting all the diversity I've been lucky enough to experience and learn from. I'm counting a chance to visit with my dear friend and maybe practice my Spanish a bit this week. And I'm counting those of you from far-flung corners who have shared with me the things that make you and your homes so different and special.

Discovering new places, even those that are only a few miles away from home, is such a marvelous thing. These experiences have such a great impact on a person's outlook and frame of mind. All the more sad if some -like the lady in the Hilton- don't allow it to happen. I have met similar people, who bemoan that the rest of the world is different than their home country. Quite sad really.

I remember standing in Shakuntulas kitchen (Kish's mom), learning how to make dosas....so different from our kitchens, was totally black, the appliances, the floor, the walls? Maybe the walls were white..but black and sparse was what I remember most...no frilly curtains, no rooster shaped cookie jar.....it sorta looked like "clear everything flammable out of the way because Shaku is cooking!" LOLThen there were the fishes with their heads still on....and yes, I ate one.....but I didnt eat the head, was I supposed to?

Here is to diversity and how it provides variety. A grest count again, Lime. We are blessed to have (and we hope to continue) delighting in your adventures. Cheers and have a great visit with your friend. :)

You are so blessed to have had the opportunity to experience the world like that. I hope to travel one day too. My boyfiend was in the NAVY and got to travel all around the world. It really does make you look at life differently and appreciate what you have.

I'm travelling as you... No big hotels for me, no high class restaurants... and no, no, no McDo!!!!The first time we went Mexico together, He choose a huge resort... all included crap... ;-( That was like a summer camp for growned up... every day, at 1pm, the same Marley song was starting... ARGHHH!!It didn't take long for us to take our bags and spend our days away, in some villages and wild spots not too crowded... It was our first and last resort... never more... ;-((

Back to tourists and food. Brazilians are the same, quite unwilling to experiment with local cuisine and spend there time yearning for Brazilian foods, I just tell them they are "provincial" which insults them into trying something different.

I love to travel and hope to see several more place before my time is up, both here and abroad. The woman at the buffet is one of the reasons American tourists are looked at poorly. Since we generally travel to Canada and then on from there people assume we're Canadian and we don't always correct them.

Since I've discovered blogs I've become an armchair traveler. The list of places I want to go just keeps growing.

I want the recipe for Stewed Pumpkin!! I grew up in a very close minded community and I took every chance I could from junior high to present to leave it and see as much as I can see. Finances don't allow for the international travel I would love to do, but there's plenty in the good ole USA to see.